Campaign of the Month:
June 2012

Crimson Skies

The Sad Adders

The Sad Adders, also known as the Crying Snakes, the Sorrowful Men, ore the Doleful Ones, are a famous secret organization based in Drusas. They originated centuries ago as the secret official enforcers of High Emirate, but once the country was divided in the Phthyan Conquest, and the Emirate of United Drusas split, the Sad Adders were subsumed by the Empire and the group became highly trained assassins.

With the continuing decline of the Empire, and the expansion of the Adders’ network, the master assassins in Phthyan occupied Drusas were no longer interested in the agendas of their Phthyan masters. In a night of red dread, the Adders slew the leaders of the Pthyan regime, and rejoined their free brethren in their mountaintop monastery in northern Drusas. Together, once reunited, they dedicated themselves to perfecting the spiritual aspects of their craft.

Their name is derived from their spiritual views of death. For the Adders, life is sacred, and only those who truly deserve death will be slain, and even such deaths cause them grief. Although they are hired to kill, they do not take every job that comes their way. They research the victims, all at the expense of their employers. Upon a criteria that only the upper echelons of the order know, either the job is accepted as worthy, or turned down. It is said that before a target of assassination is slain, the adders spend a month weeping for their victims, and then another month after the murder atoning for the sin.

The assassins of the Sad Adders frequently use a poison, concocted from the rarest snake venoms. This fast acting poison is said to be the swiftest, most deadly venom known to man. They consider it a mercy for their victims, and tend to inject the targets using needles or darts. It is rare for a member of their order to carry and use traditional weaponry for their art.

The Sad Adders always leave a token upon the bodies of their victims. Depending on the sect, this token is either a red flower placed in the mouth of the deceased, a dead Drusai Red Viper draped around the throat, or a red tear inked on the cheek under the dead man’s left eye.

The Sad Adders typically have such a tear tattooed beneath their right eye.

It is said that there is a division of the Sad Adders who specialize in the assassination of the faithful of the Lords of Heaven, and have secret ways of slaying a victim despite the number of Maker’s Gifts they may possess. What the nature of this power may be is only speculation.

If a member of this order becomes captured by the authorities for the crime they have committed, it is typical for them to confess the crime and volunteer for execution. This act is in harmony with the beliefs of the order, although it is never the intention of an Adder to be apprehended.